The (Week)End is Nigh

📉 U.S. Life Expectancy Drops

The CDC released a report yesterday showing life expectancy in the U.S. fell by one full year over the first half of 2020 (now resting at 77.8 years compared to 2019’s 78.8 years).

• The agency said the statistical drop, which marks the largest year-to-year decline in life expectancy since World War II, is largely attributed to deaths from COVID-19, with a surge in drug overdoses also contributing to the decline.

📝 U.S. Citizen Act of 2021

Democratic lawmakers introduced the President Biden-backed U.S. Citizen Act of 2021 in the House and Senate yesterday. The immigration bill largely reflects goals set by Biden in an executive order signed in his first day of office, featuring a broad set of measures that, among other things, would:

• Provide an eight-year path to citizenship for immigrants living in the U.S. unlawfully before Jan 1, 2021.
• Allow ‘Dreamers’ to receive green cards and apply for citizenship after three years.
• Replace the word ‘alien’ with ‘noncitizen’ in legal writing.

The bill is expected to meet significant challenges in a closely divided Congress.

In Other Legislative News: The governor of South Carolina on Thursday signed a bill banning most abortions in the state, prompting an immediate lawsuit from Planned Parenthood (effectively preventing the law from taking effect). (Left-Center | Right-Center)

🌏 Around the World:

🇳🇿 PM Jacinda Ardern announced all New Zealand schools will offer free access to period products starting in June.

🇯🇵 Japan selected Seiko Hashimoto, a former Olympic athlete-turned-politician, as president of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Organizing Committee. She replaces Yoshiro Mori, who resigned last week after making sexist remarks.

☝️ 1 Last Thing…

Image sent in from a subscriber in Dallas, TX.

More than 250k customers in Texas remained without power due to the ongoing winter storm as of late Thursday, according to PowerOutageUS.

• Meanwhile, roughly 13M Texans were under a boil-water advisory due to a lack of power to run water treatment plants.

🚀 NASA Perseveres

NASA’s Perseverance rover – nicknamed "Percy" – successfully touched down on Mars yesterday afternoon following a six-month voyage from Earth (full video – timestamped to landing... the crew's reaction is pretty cool). NASA aims to spend nearly two years using the robot to explore Mars, measuring the planet’s geology and collecting samples the agency hopes to return to Earth with a future mission.

More: Percy is tasked with searching for telltale signs that microbial life may have lived on Mars billions of years ago.

Even More: Percy is also carrying Ingenuity – a small helicopter NASA plans to use to attempt the first controlled flight on another planet.

💵 Walmart’s Wages

Walmart, America’s largest private employer, announced plans to raise the wages of 425k U.S. employees in stocking and digital positions to $13-19 an hour depending on location and market.

• After the change, which takes effect March 13, around half of Walmart’s ~1.5M U.S. workers will earn $15 an hour or more.

🏛️ Hear, Hear

The House Financial Services Committee held a five-and-a-half hour hearing yesterday regarding market volatility surrounding GameStop stock. (Full video)

• Last month, shares of the brick-and-mortar retailer rose nearly 2,000% with the help of Reddit site ‘r/WallStreetBets’ before Robinhood and other trading apps restricted users’ ability to buy - but not sell - GameStop stock.

More: The CEOs of Reddit, Robinhood and two hedge funds testified alongside Keith Gill – a r/WallStreetBets investor better known as ‘Roaring Kitty’ or ‘DeepF---ingValue.’

⏰ Catch Up Quick:

🔊 Social audio app Clubhouse reached 8.1M global downloads on February 16, according to new data from analytics firm App Annie, up from 3.5M global downloads on February 1 (+131%).

🪵 The price of lumber climbed above $1K per 1k board feet yesterday - its highest price ever and double the price it was three months ago - as starts of single-family homes fell 12% in December, per the U.S. Census.

🗺️ Google Maps is adding new features allowing users to pay for parking or purchase a train ticket from within the app.

📅 T.G.I.F.F.F.

Welcome to the inaugural “Furry Friends Friday,” where we share paws-itive stories from around the world. 🐶🐴🦦

Images: @jeanfrancoiswillem on TikTok

Earlier this month, two hikers in Ireland came across Neesha, an eight-year-old golden retriever, shivering next to some rocks in the mountains. Unbeknownst to them, Neesha had been missing for the past two weeks.

• Carrying the frozen pup more than six miles on their backs, the kind strangers took care of Neesha while sharing their story on TikTok.
• The video quickly went viral, accumulating over 500k likes and ultimately connecting the rescuers with Neesha’s owners, who recently shared this cute ‘pupdate.'

🐴 Happy Horses
Kristin and Mike Song have made it their mission to rescue animals in honor of their animal-loving son Ethan, who passed in 2018. The Song Strong Animal Sanctuary opened last spring, where they offer equine therapy courses for children and veterans suffering from trauma.

🦫 Platypus Progress
One Australian ecologist has dedicated the last five years to the restoration of 1,035 acres of wetland. As a result, wild platypuses have started to return to the rivers.

Want your pet featured in the next Furry Friends Friday? Just reply to this email with a picture and caption…we’ll share the best ones next week.

*Correction: Yesterday we incorrectly stated that the Lil’ E Cafe was the “first of its kind.” While the cafe is the first-of-its-kind in the Calgary area, there are many other coffee shops that hire employees with intellectual disabilities all over the country! Shoutout to Bridget N. for being the first to let us know.